Sayonara Memories
by CrossFaded
Summary: Memories are so precious, but yet they can be so fragile, and so painful. Goodbye, memories. This is a story of Shokuhou Misaki and Mitsuari Ayu who both met a boy named Kamijou Touma.
1. Shokuhou Misaki

Shokuhou Misaki trudged along a desolate uphill concrete path in District 7, sighing.

"My stationaries! My textbooks!"

It was around March, a month before her middle school days would officially begin, so the sakura trees along the path were in full bloom, coloring the streets in a brilliant pink against the orange sky backdrop.

Of all people, that spiky-haired boy had to crash into her.

Because of him, all her stationary, textbooks, and other miscellaneous items deemed necessary for middle school life flew out into the road to be mercilessly ran over by vehicles.

The cheap mobile phone he left behind by accident was not going to be enough to compensate her losses!

However, Shokuhou Misaki was an ojou-sama who cared little about such losses, and so she handed the mobile phone to the nearest Judgement branch later in the afternoon.

Buying back the items lost to the savage traffic felt like a real pain, so Misaki decided to buy them another day. There was still a month before school started anyway.

Come to think of it... isn't the street a little too desolate?

A few giggling high school girls came into view, yapping away in their annoying gal lingo.

Maybe it wasn't as desolate as she had thought.

Misaki soon found herself crossing into another district as she stepped onto a winding mountain path leading upwards. The grassy area around the path seemed to stretch on towards infinity.

District 21 was a mountainous region with a surprising amount of nature being preserved. This was also the only region where it was mostly free from urban influences such as the skyscrapers and asphalt roads.

She entered a forest trail after completing the winding mountain path and what greeted her at the end was a large field. A circular lake could be seen at the center with a metal tower rising above the water surface.

Misaki laid down on the soft grass, spreading her legs wide despite her short skirt. There was no one else here anyway. She closed her eyes as she let the cool breeze brush through her face.

Why do people have to hurt and lie to each other?

Why can't people get along like that giggling high school girls?

As an esper who could read people's minds, she had seen the worst of what people were always thinking in their minds.

Many, many isolated incidents taught her how people would always hurt and lie to each other just to have the upper hand over the other.

However, the incident regarding the Dolly project was the most memorable, and the most painful memories she ever had.

It would be so easy.

Misaki took out a remote from her handbag, and pressed it against her forehead.

All she had to do was to activate her Mental Out by pressing the button, and reset her memories.

Even if nothing changed in the end, she would no longer remember those painful memories that haunted her everyday.

Shokuhou Misaki would be reborn as an innocent middle schooler without a painful past dragging her down, ready to excel in life.

Wouldn't that be great?

Wouldn't that be the best thing ever?

Goodbye, memories.

Just when her thumb was about to touch that button, a young, male voice interrupted her.

"Hey, golden girl."

Misaki's eyes snapped open to see a spiky-haired boy carrying a plastic bag standing in front of her.

It was that same spiky-haired boy who knocked into her just this afternoon, causing all her items to fly and disappear into the merciless traffic.

She stood up, surprised.

"Wh-What are you doing in such a place like this?! And my name is not golden girl!"

This was District 21, and she had walked through a specific route just to reach this place, so it wasn't a place where anyone would be here by accident.

The spiky-haired boy put a hand to his chin, thoughtful. "Gyaru wannabe? All you lack is a tanned skin to complete your look."

Misaki clenched her fists. How dare he lump an elegant ojou-sama like her together with those vulgar, childish brats.

"My name is Shokuhou Misaki, you spiky-haired idiot!"

"Anyway," He casually passed Misaki the plastic bag he was holding, not at all bothered by her outburst. "That's for this afternoon's incident."

Inside the plastic bag were the items that got destroyed by the merciless traffic. All of them without a single item missing. How did he remember everything? Amazing.

"Did you come all the way here just to pass me this?" Misaki said, looking unimpressed.

It was impressive that he managed to remember everything, but his name-calling antics and his unremorseful expression about his actions left a bad impression to her, so she was not in the mood to be smiling and thankful at him.

"I... just happened to be in the vicinity when I spotted you lying over there."

Misaki sighed before shaking her head. "If this is you coming up with a lame excuse to your desperate attempt to hit on a beauty like me, you should try harder next time."

The spiky-haired boy looked at her confused.

Confused?! Misaki did not understand what was going on. What other reasons could there be other than hiding a desperate attempt to impress her?

He took out a mobile phone from his pocket with a smile.

It was the same, cheap mobile phone that she returned to a Judgement facility later in the afternoon.

"It must be you who returned this to Judgement, right? Thanks. Because of you, I managed to save a girl who attempted suicide around this area."

"So that's why you're here?"

"Definitely not to hit on you. You're still a child for god's sake. Anyone who hits on you must be some kind of a pedophile."

Misaki twitched in annoyance upon hearing such a comment. She could not deny it with her slender, undeveloped body.

"Anyway, why did she wanted to attempt suicide?"

As she was in a similar situation before that spiky-haired idiot interrupted her, she could not help but ask why.

"Oh. Apparently, there was something she regretted deeply. It was so painful that she wanted to end her misery by committing suicide, but I think it would be more meaningful to live on even though it may be painful. After all, that's how you grow as a stronger person."

Misaki stared at the spiky-haired boy in astonishment.

Was that an indirect attempt to convince her out of her suicide attempt? It somehow sounded like that, but maybe she was thinking too much into it?

"I gotta get going now. See ya."

Without turning back, the spiky-haired boy continued.

"By the way, kids shouldn't be wearing spider-laced panties. Does that panties even cover the important bits? Doesn't seem like it to me."

Misaki's face flashed crimson red as she frantically reached for her remote control inside her handbag.

A series of unnatural sounds similar to shattering glasses rang out, and the boy laughed.

"I don't know what exactly you're trying to do, but your ability doesn't work on me. That is definitely going on the urban rumors website, Mental Out."

Misaki could only quell her frustration by taking deep breath as she watched the pervert spiky-haired idiot who peeked inside her skirt slip away unaffected by her powers. What was that boy's ability anyway?! How did he manage to be unaffected her Mental Out?!

Without realizing it, this became a day that held the most significant meaning to her.

This was the day when they first met each other after all.

* * *

"I hate you."

Misaki said as she walked along an uphill path with the sakura trees at full bloom by the sides, littering the asphalt with pink petals beside the spiky-haired boy who introduced himself as Kamijou Touma later on.

"Found a way to bypass my negation ability yet?" Touma said.

"Shut up."

No matter what kind of methods Misaki employed, her Mental Out would never work on that spiky-haired idiot Kamijou Touma.

Perhaps his negation ability on his right hand only worked when he was conscious? His ability remained active despite being asleep by a drug she slipped into his drink.

Perhaps it was only able to negate one thing at a time? Her Mental Out still refused to work even though she activated her ability at the same time his right hand was negating a fireball.

Her failure to mind control Touma and get her well-deserved revenge has led to a new rumor spreading around the forums after the 'spider laced panties' incident which forced her to never wear such panties anymore.

'Failure in all kinds of athletic events.'

This all started when she bumped into Touma wearing a swim suit during an Academy City event where all the underground tunnels would be turned into swimming pools as part of a disaster event exercise.

As she was wearing a swim suit to hide her inability to swim, Misaki could not come up with an excuse not to cross the underground tunnels when Touma asked why wasn't she crossing the tunnels if she was wearing a swim suit.

In the end, as she crossed the underground tunnel pool with all the courage she could gather, she somehow almost drowned in a pool less than a meter deep, earning her the title 'Failure in all kinds of athletic events' from Touma.

At least he wasn't a complete jerk and offered to help her learn how to swim.

Today, she had just finished another session of swimming lessons from Touma.

"Isn't it great? To have a purpose in living." Touma said, admiring the sakura trees. "Our lives are just as transient as those cherry blossoms. It would be such a waste if we don't live life to the fullest."

Misaki flashed a thin smile. "Maybe."

For a while, she did lose her purpose of living.

Sick of people.

Sick of relationships.

Just sick of everything.

What was the point of living if she was sick of everything around her?

However, that seemed to have changed a little when that spiky-haired boy named Kamijou Touma entered her life.

Everyday, her mind would be occupied thinking about ways to bypass the negation ability in his right hand.

The recent rumors of the Level 5 ojou-sama Shokuhou Misaki being a 'failure in all kinds of athletic events' forced her to uphold the reputation that ojou-samas are good in everything, even sports.

Running exercises and swimming lessons left her so exhausted that she hardly had the energy to think about those depressing things anymore.

"I don't really know what happened to you back there lying on the field with a remote to your head, but you seemed really depressed and suicidal."

Misaki stopped walking as a sudden realization struck her intensely. "Was that your purpose all along? To give me a purpose to live through posting embarrassing rumors about me at the urban forums?"

"It's a fact, not a rumor." Touma smirked, "But yeah. A person seeking revenge wouldn't think of committing suicide after all, and a person too tired from exercising probably wouldn't think of committing suicide as well."

He knew.

Misaki stared at Touma in disbelief.

He knew all along. That she was committing suicide through her powers.

Touma placed a hand on Misaki's shoulder with a comforting smile.

"We only have one life, cherish it."

At that moment on a uphill path with sakura trees in full bloom, Misaki fell in love with that smile.

* * *

Confessions were supposed to be easy, right?

All she had to do was to pass a love letter to Touma, say how much she liked him, and how she wants him to be her boyfriend.

But the truth was far from that.

Misaki hemmed and hawed with both hands behind her back, face blushing red.

After a few dinner dates with Touma before this dinner date, she finally had the courage to bring him here on this bridge to confess her love.

Now that the time has arrived, Misaki found it impossible to pass the letter hidden behind her back, and say the words she wanted to say.

"What are you hiding behind your back anyway? A confession letter?"

Misaki crushed the letter before stuffing it inside her skirt pocket.

"Nothing! Nothing at all!"

Touma looked at her skeptically, "Really?"

Misaki chuckled nervously, hoping it would be enough for him to be convinced. "I brought you here to look at the ocean view. Doesn't it look beautiful sparkling under the stars?"

Touma nodded, "You're right. It does look really beautiful."

It seemed that he was convinced by her awful acting skills. Or maybe he knew that she was confessing all along, but decided to hide it out of politeness? Without the ability to use her Mental Out on him, this would always remain as a mystery.

Misaki did not mind at all.

So long as she was with him, nothing else really mattered.

A figure in a red riding suit with small inline skate wheels attached all over, and a full-face helmet charging towards them with the aid of two mini jet boosters behind its back at an incredible speed put an end to their peaceful night by the bridge.

* * *

Deadlock.

It was an organization comprising of espers whose power development had reached a standstill, no longer able to advance further.

The red riding suit figure that put an end to their peaceful night was one of the many members belonging to that group.

Their goal was to kill all the Level 5s because they believed the reason behind their inability to advance further was because of their AIM field dispersion affecting them.

Misaki's athletic ability may not be on par with Touma's own athletic ability, but it was enough for her to survive the pursuit of several riding suits together with Touma who got involved into this as an innocent party.

However, more and more riding suits appeared as they kept running and jumping from building to building, rooftop to rooftop. Eventually, they were forced into a corner by Deadlock.

More than thirty riding suits surrounded Misaki and Touma on a rooftop. Each of them held a bazooka-like weapon with a blade sticking out at the front end. They were pile bunkers powered by explosives.

The helmets were also specifically made to protect against her Mental Out ability to an unknown extent, so Misaki could not take out her remotes and turn this hopeless situation around.

They would either by torn apart by pile bunkers, or be blown apart by jet fuel explosions caused by the thirty over riding suits colliding against their fragile human body. There was also no way of escaping now that they were surrounded by so many riding suits.

A boy in a red riding suit said to Touma.

"Are you sure you want to keep this up?"

It was a hint that they would spare him as long as he backed off away from their goal to kill Misaki.

"Why not?"

Touma replied without a single moment of hesitation.

"Don't you find it odd?" The boy said.

"Find what odd?"

"From the very fact that you've decided to fight for Shokuhou Misaki despite being in such a hopeless situation like now, doesn't it seem like she's already controlling you with her Mental Out?"

Touma let out a quiet laugh, "Her powers doesn't work on me, but so what if her powers somehow was controlling me? If it leads me to stand here and protect a girl with tears in her eyes, I wouldn't mind at all because that's what I would have done in the first place anyway, mind controlled or not."

Misaki only realized that tears were falling from her cheeks when Touma mentioned it.

"Take the hint and leave!"

It was her final attempt to convince him that she wasn't worth it.

She was just an ordinary friend to Touma. Even though Misaki wanted their relationship to be something more than that, but she knew the truth deep down inside her heart.

Touma smiled at Misaki comfortingly. It was the same comforting smile that she fell in love with at the uphill path with pink cherry blossom petals littered on the ground.

"Everything's going to be alright, trust me."

He fished out a remote from Misaki's handbag and turned to face Deadlock.

"You're going to take us all on with just a single remote?" The boy sneered.

"It's going to be really embarrassing if you lose, so be prepared to put your life on the line and just come at me with all you got!"

Misaki was not sure if her feelings for Touma were just mere infatuation or something else more complicated, but at that instant, she was sure of her feelings for him.

A comforting warmth gently wrapped itself around her cold, broken heart traumatized by the darkness of Academy City

For this spiky-haired boy who faced his back against her to protect her, she would devote everything to him.

When everything was over, she would confess her love to him this time without any more doubts and hesitation.

* * *

Misaki walked along the same uphill path where she would always pass through on the way back to her dormitory after swimming lessons beside Touma. As the sakura season was already over, there were no pink petals scattered around the asphalt, and the street returned to its ordinary, familiar scene.

As she was still alive, naturally Touma won the fight against Deadlock despite how the situation seemed so hopeless back then.

But he did promise me that everything would be alright.

Misaki smiled. She took out a letter from her skirt pocket.

"Hey, there's something I want to tell you."

There was no more hemming and hawing, nor there was any visible tinge of red on her face.

This time, she would say it. No more hesitations. No more doubts.

"Yes?"

Misaki stretched out both her hands holding a love letter towards Touma, with her head hung low. There was still some amount of nervousness and embarrassment she could not shake off, but that would not get in her way.

"I..."

She took a deep breath.

"I love you! It's okay if you don't feel the same way, but I just wanted to tell you that!"

Misaki raised her head and dropped her outstretched arms to see Touma gone.

He was never there in the beginning.

There was no one except Misaki who was walking along this uphill path that they both used to pass by after swimming lessons with him. It was all just a reflection of her delusions.

Other than an ability negation power in his right hand, Kamijou Touma was just an ordinary high school student, a mere Level 0 with a fragile human body.

He succeeded in protecting her, but he did not emerge unharmed against the thirty over riding suits equipped with jet boosters and pile bunkers.

Misaki crushed the love letter into a wrinkled ball, "At least I finally said it..."

To save Touma from dying after the battle, Misaki used her ability as a form of anesthetic so that the paramedics could give him enough further treatment to keep him alive until he reached the hospital.

However, that resulted in the pathways of Touma's memories for a specific individual named Shokuhou Misaki to be completely destroyed.

He would never be able to remember her.

Even if she tried to build new relationships with him, he would just forget all about her soon after.

"But so what?"

Misaki trembled, her teary face twisted in anguish as she gripped the crushed letter even tighter.

It was over.

Her memories with Touma came to an end on that day when she was finally sure of her feelings for him.

Goodbye.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

So... I'm back I guess?

Although today is Valentine's Day, but I swear it was just a coincidence!

This is just a one-shot inspired by supercell's Sayanora Memories, hence the title. It's a little AU, but otherwise it mostly follows canon.

Hope you liked it :)


	2. Mitsuari Ayu

Mitsuari Ayu fiddled with her smartphone in front of a girl trashing about on the ground in pain.

"That'll teach you not to mess with us!" A girl beside Ayu said.

Another girl beside Ayu forced her foot down against the girl's face with a gleeful smirk.

Those two girls together with Mitsuari Ayu as the leader was a rather influential clique in Tokiwadai Middle School.

As the leader, Ayu found it necessary to punish this foolish girl named Suzuka inside this alley who had offended one of her clique members by being an arrogant brat.

But had she gone too far?

Ayu reluctantly fiddled with more options presented on her smartphone.

She tapped on a button.

Suzuka stopped trashing about, and let out a soft chuckle, grinning. Her eyes widened in excitement and screamed for the two girls belonging to Ayu's clique to keep on inflicting pain towards her as the two girls kicked the masochistic doll Suzuka towards each other like in a ball game.

This was Mitsuari Ayu's ability.

Mental Stinger, the ability to manipulate people's mind in all sort of ways through the use of a smartphone device. However, because she was a Level 3, she was limited in the amount of people she could control at once, and the extent to how far she could manipulate their minds.

Controlling just one person, and manipulating their concept of pleasure was at least doable for a Level 3 like Ayu.

"Ayu, now make her slap herself while crying!"

"And make her do stupid faces as well!"

Ayu navigated towards another option in her smartphone, but she found herself unwilling to press her finger down on the screen.

"Maybe we should stop... right?" Ayu smiled nervously at the two girls who glared at her as soon as she finished what she said.

One of the girls slammed her feet down on Suzuka's head. "Are you fucking kidding me? Stop?!"

The other girl pointed a finger at Ayu. "You're our leader, and it is your job to stand up for us! This is too little for that fucking bitch Suzuka."

Even if that girl Suzuka might be in the wrong for being rude, Ayu felt that she did not deserve to be punished in such a cruel manner by turning her usual, arrogant self into a degenerate masochist.

But as the leader of her clique, it was indeed her responsibility to stand up for her clique members. She had to prove herself worthy of their respect.

Ayu sighed as she put out both hands in an attempt to placate her two clique members. "Alright, alright. I'm sorry."

Her finger found itself back on the same option it was unwilling to press down.

This time, it was no longer about her.

It was about being a good leader to her clique members. About being a person of great value to them.

I don't have a choice! It's not my fault that I have do this to prove my value to th-

"What the fuck do you think you're doing!"

The voice came from a spiky-haired boy from a distance towards the alley exit. He gritted his teeth, expression livid.

The two girls beside Ayu rolled their eyes in disgust upon noticing the spiky-haired boy.

"Ayu, punish this insolent boy as well."

As the maximum number of person Ayu could take control was two, this dangerous looking boy posed no threat to them.

Ayu aimed her smartphone at that boy, looking at him through the camera function before pressing the snapshot button.

The boy was now under her control, and once again Ayu felt her value increase even further as the leader and the most important member in her clique.

A unnatural sound like glass shattering rang out. The spiky-haired boy charged towards them with his right fist raised.

Ayu was wrong.

The two girls who belonged to Ayu's clique ran away in fear of that unstoppable danger.

To protect her clique members from being chased after by the boy, Ayu stayed behind to face him who was somehow immune to her ability.

She kept tapping on her smartphone for a desperate miracle. Ayu's breathing grew more and more frantic as the unnatural glass shattering sound signalling that her ability was nullified refused to stop ringing.

Ayu hurled her smartphone at the boy, and placed her arms out wide like a cross.

The boy swatted the phone away, and his fist appeared to grow larger and larger as her vision narrowed onto the incoming fist.

She had to take that fist to the face.

This self-sacrificing act for her clique members would definitely increase her value as the leader of the clique. No pain no gain.

The fist stopped just mere inches away from her face.

Ayu blinked. What in the world just happened?

The spiky-haired boy dropped his fist, and let out a sigh.

"It's admirable that you're protecting your friends, but I don't think that they're friends worth your efforts if they abandoned you without a word."

"But I'm the leader, I have a responsibility to protect my clique members."

In the end, what truly was Mitsuari Ayu to her clique members? A reliable leader that everyone looked up to, or a mere pushover eager to please everyone placed in the position of 'leader' to be more easily manipulated by her 'members'?

Her limited mind reading ability seemed to suggest that it was more of the latter, but as long as she was useful to them, does it really matter?

The spiky-haired boy placed his right hand on the trembling and laughing Suzuka full of bruises and cuts, and that unnatural glass shattering sound rang out. Suzuka's face contorted into shock before she fell unconscious.

He carried Suzuka with both hands before turning to face Ayu.

"Mitsuari Ayu, I'll be back to correct that fucked up illusion of yours."

It was a sentence that changed Ayu's life forever.

A memory that Ayu would always treasure in her heart.

* * *

Ayu could not help but smile whenever she thought about her first meeting with the spiky-haired boy who introduced himself as Kamijou Touma later on.

After a few more encounters, and a final showdown with Touma, he managed to correct her 'fucked up illusions'. The pushover eager to please everyone was now a thing of a past.

Thank you. Because of you, I was able to face the truth about those girls who claimed to be my friends.

"Ayu onee-chan! Ayu onee-chan!"

A young girl named Miki around four years old seated beside Ayu at a park bench tugged on her uniform, snapping Ayu out of her reverie.

Miki was a Child Error belonging to the orphanage Ayu worked in as a volunteer. As Miki wanted to get something secret for a certain someone she refused to reveal, it was up to Ayu to bring her around the district so that she could buy her mystery gift.

"What's the matter?"

"Why are you smiling to yourself? Are you thinking about your boyfriend?"

"He's not my boyfriend!"

Ayu felt her cheeks burning. It wasn't impossible right? Maybe someday they could be holding hands and whisper sweet nothings at a park bench like here at night.

Once again, Ayu found herself being dragged back inside her reverie, fantasizing about all the things they could do together as a couple. Firstly, they could hold hands and kiss on this bench before moving on to their whispering of sweet nothings...

"Hey, Ayu! How have you been?"

Ayu leaped up in shock upon hearing Touma's voice. She looked at him wide-eyed with her face flushing bright red. He just had to randomly appear out of nowhere without any warning.

"I'm f-fine, thank you! How about you?"

"Great. At least I'm still alive."

Although Ayu did not spend a lot of time with Touma, he always seemed to be a guy who attracted a lot of bad luck to himself. It was somewhat of a miracle that he was still alive.

A boy running at the play area behind Touma tripped himself on a rock, and his ice cream cone flew in the air, landing right on Touma's hair upside down like a hat.

Touma sighed before smiling tiredly at Ayu. "And I just got myself a hat. How do you find it?"

"How did you even know that without even confirming what just landed on your head?!"

"You can call it prerecognition..." He swept the ice cream cone away from his hair, "Or you can call it being too experienced enough to know. I'd like to think of it as the former. It makes me feel better."

"I could buy you a hat if you like!"

It was a chance for Ayu to get him a present. The very first step in capturing his heart.

Touma waved her offer away, "It's alright."

He pulled Ayu close to him. Her heartbeat shot up at a dangerously high rate as she almost went into hyperventilation.

What was this sudden development out of nowhere?! Aren't they supposed to be friends first before they hug each other and kiss?!

They both fell back, and Ayu found her lips pressed against Touma's lips.

Before she could even savor the moment just a little while more, an explosion shook the area.

The park descended into chaos as a psychotic male pyromancer shot fire out from his palm in addition to throwing bombs from a bag slung across his shoulders.

Ayu realized that Touma must have did that to protect her from a bomb thrown by that madman.

She rushed to comfort the sobbing four year old Miki by hugging her.

"Everything is going to be okay, alright? Don't cry."

Touma was already gone on his way to stop the madman.

Watching him attempt to take down the madman with his unusual reflexes and skills gave Ayu a strong desire to advance further into a Level 5.

Someday, she would be as strong as Touma. A kind and helpful person worthy to be Touma's girlfriend. If Misaka Mikoto achieved Level 5 through sheer hard work, so can she.

From that time onwards, Ayu was determined to achieve Level 5 no matter how much hard work she had to put in.

* * *

It was all just a lie.

Ayu sat by a river at District 21 under the calm afternoon sky as she kept repeating those words in her mind.

Level 5 was not something that could be achieved by hard work.

A chance encounter with the 'darkness' of Academy City from being too much of a hero like Touma taught her that.

Parameter List.

A list that determines which esper has more potential to advance into a higher level with the least amount of resources given to the esper compared to another esper.

However, it was slightly different for Ayu's case.

Both she and a girl named Shokuhou Misaki both equally had the potential to become a Level 5, but Academy City only has enough resources to make one person become a Level 5.

Ayu broke down into tears.

It just wasn't fair.

Why was Shokuhou Misaki chosen over her? They both equally had the potential to become a Level 5, so why couldn't that person be her?

Without even meeting each other in person, Shokuhou Misaki had stolen her future away. There were so many things she could do and change as a Level 5, but that wasn't the most important thing in her mind when she decided that she would reach Level 5.

To become useful to the spiky-haired boy Kamijou Touma who changed her life for the better.

Shokuhou Misaki had stolen that away from her.

There was nothing left for Ayu to live for.

I'll always be a useless Level 3 to him because of that Shokuhou Misaki. He'll never fall in love with such a weak person like me.

Ayu took out her smartphone with trembling hands, tears dripping onto the screen.

It has been three hours since she sent a message to Touma.

Why wasn't he coming?

Kamijou Touma was a boy who would save anyone as long as they needed to be saved.

The message she sent to Touma was clearly a cry for help. So why wasn't he coming?

"Ah, I see."

Mitsuari Ayu was the only exception.

The only person he did not save despite needing to be saved.

Ayu felt the cold water creeping up her ankles towards her legs.

Half of her body was submerged underneath the river.

Silence.

Three quarter of her body was now submerged, leaving only her head above the water.

Silence.

In the end, Kamijou Touma did not arrive to save a crying girl betrayed by the world.

Ayu let herself sink down into the depths of that cold, dark river.

* * *

The 'darkness' of Academy City.

That was how far Ayu let herself sank down beyond the depths of that cold, dark river.

A man stood rooted to the spot holding a knife to his neck inside a room facing Ayu.

Eliminating troublesome people like this man was part of her usual job inside the 'darkness'.

Her suicide attempt at District 21 may have failed, but that was fine.

After all, she now had a new reason to live on.

Ayu pressed a button on her smartphone, and the man sliced his neck in one swift motion.

She wiped away the splattered blood on her face.

The man collapsed to the ground, stained with blood and filled with agony.

Eventually, this will be Shokuhou Misaki's fate.

The girl who stole everything from her.

Even her chance to be saved by Kamijou Touma.

And so, her chance to walk beside Kamijou Touma with a smile on her face.

A monster like her who fell into the darkness seeking revenge no longer deserved such a chance. The old Mitsuari Ayu died when she threw herself into the river, betrayed by the world, and failed to be saved by a certain spiky-haired boy named Kamijou Touma.

And when the new Mitsuari Ayu was born again after her failed suicide attempt, there was one thing she decided that must be done.

All of Misaki's precious memories with that boy are unneeded and undeserved.

It should be something that belongs to Mitsuari Ayu, and only Mitsuari Ayu.

Goodbye, memories.

* * *

Checkmate.

It was goodbye to Misaki's precious memories indeed.

Ayu stuffed Misaki's unconscious body inside a transparent coffin filled with red liquid that formed the abdomen of the giant scorpion wasp combat machine called the Five_Over ModelCase Mental Out.

With that machine, she would obtain Misaki's Mental Out ability at Level 5 and erase all her precious memories with that boy.

The girl walking beside that boy should have been Mitsuari Ayu instead of Shokuhou Misaki, and now she was going to correct that.

Ayu stuck her hands inside the transparent coffin and started to attach wired medical electrodes onto Misaki's body.

The conducting red fluid prevented her body and mind from resisting and the electrodes would give the specific commands to draw out her power.

Then she would monitor and record exactly how Misaki used her Mental Out to control someone's mind at Level 5 like a recipe. By sending the recipe back to the machine, she would have successfully reproduced Misaki's power.

Ayu took out her hands from the red fluid.

"It's time we end this. You will lose everything, have every last memory altered, and have nothing left to prove those days ever existed. I will rightfully become the girl that you've stolen away from me."

"You really think you've won? If it's that boy, I still have hope." Misaki said.

Ayu let out a soft chuckle. "Are you really that naive? He has completely lost his memories beyond what both of our powers can do to change that. He doesn't remember us anymore."

"Nevertheless, he'll come."

"He's not coming!"

Seeing how convinced Misaki seemed to be angered Ayu. She was once like Misaki. A naive girl who believed that her hero would come in the end to save her.

Misaki smiled. "He will. Even if he doesn't remember anyone of us, he'll come. Because he's my hero who promised me that everything's going to be alright. That's why he'll come. He'll come to make everything alright."

Ayu plunged her hands into the red liquid.

"Fuck you!"

She wrapped her slender hands around Misaki's neck, squeezing with unbelievable strength.

"He could have been my hero too! But because of you, he didn't come for me!"

Ayu wanted to stop Misaki's breathing even if it meant that her entire plan she worked so hard for by sinking into the 'darkness' of Academy City would be in ruins.

Her face twisted into a maniacal smirk as she heard Misaki's desperate struggle to breathe through a constricted windpipe.

"Give up and just fucking die! There's no way he'll appear! The only path left for you is to be destroyed as you long for someone who will never arrive!"

She wanted her to feel the same pain she had felt as she sank into that dark water while still waiting for him to arrive.

No hero would come for that naive Misaki. Just like how no hero came for that naive Mitsuari Ayu who waited and waited for a hero that never came.

Raising an arm to point at something behind Ayu, Misaki forced out what barely counted as a voice.

"Th-Then... who... is... that...?"

Ayu shook her head before letting out a sigh like an adult mocking a child for being too naive. "Is the lack of oxygen to your blood causing hallucinations now?"

"Hey."

It was a familiar voice Ayu had not heard for a long time.

She let go of Misaki's neck, and turned to face the person behind her.

It was Kamijou Touma.

Ayu stared at him in complete shock.

Even though there was no reason that could have led to his appearance in this isolated area in District 21, he was right here standing in front of her.

"Why?" Ayu said in a whimpering voice.

It wasn't fair.

It wasn't fair how he still managed to come for Shokuhou Misaki at the end.

It wasn't fair why a hero came for Misaki, but no hero came for her.

It just wasn't fair that she always gets everything stolen from her!

Ayu let out a shrill scream.

The scenery around her began to distort into something like a surreal art piece.

Ayu's ability technically manipulated people's minds by controlling the moisture in their brains. The changes they caused were normally microscopic and they could not cause any physical phenomena visible with the naked eye.

But she overturned that assumption.

The extreme despair and anger from watching Misaki take something away from her again made it possible.

Any living being within the demonic territory marked by the white magnetic dust storm engulfing the distorted scenery would have all their moisture sucked away from them, and they would crumble into something like dried paper mache.

Touma swung his right arm covered with a cast towards the dust storm.

The storm swallowed up the cast with a loud roar, revealing his right arm which negated the storm, and the whole scenery around them reverted back to normal.

Magnetic dust rained down around the scenery as an octopus-like machine hovered in front of Ayu.

"Just because you appeared doesn't mean she's saved. I will destroy you and deny all the hopes of that girl who you wanted to save."

That was how far Ayu had fallen.

She would go as far as killing the boy who had created precious memories that she would always treasure in her heart.

He winced in agony as the paralyzing repulsive sensation radiating from the alien-like eyes pasted all over the octopus's head took effect.

Even his Imagine Breaker has its limits. If the attack was not supernatural in nature, he cannot negate it.

Five_Over OS, or the octopus-like machine hovering in front of Ayu, was a machine created by science and powered by science.

The machine would keep Touma paralyzed while she would go back and finish Misaki off.

Even if a hero did arrive for Misaki, there was no point if that hero failed to change anything.

This was the end of Shokuhou Misaki.

However...

"I won't allow that to happen."

Touma took a step forward, fighting the paralyzing repulsive sensation that held him rooted in fear.

Once again, Ayu fell into complete shock.

 _If it's that boy, I still have hope._

That was Misaki said just a short while ago to her.

Yes, if it was Kamijou Touma, maybe that shouldn't come as a surprise to her. After all, that was why she idolized him as a hero.

Anger and despair began to build up inside her.

Why was the hero she wanted to be saved by now someone's else's hero who overcame everything to defeat the enemy in front of her?

And why was she the villain?

Touma raised his right hand clenched into a fist and broke into a sprint towards Ayu.

His fist seemed to be growing larger and larger as her vision narrowed onto the incoming fist.

It was similar to her first encounter with that boy. At that time, his fist stopped mere inches away from her face.

This time would be different.

She was no longer a wimpy pushover influenced by her 'friends' to bully a girl.

She was now a monster attempting to take away a human life by her own hands. A villain that the hero must defeat.

It was all Misaki's fault.

It was all her fault that she ended up in such a pathetic state!

The fist stopped just mere inches away from her face.

Ayu froze in disbelief.

Impossible. How could this be possible? Why? What was going on?

A finger from the fist flicked Ayu's forehead, and the small pain shook her out of her thoughts.

Touma smiled, "I can't possibly punch you. It was my fault that you ended up this way after all."

"No! It was Misaki's fault! She was the one who knocked into you! She was the reason why you didn't arrive in time for me!"

Ayu did not understand how Touma regained his memories when not even the Level 5 Mental Out could change that, but if he did regain his memories, then it would explain why he was here.

"Look." Touma put a hand on Ayu's shoulder to calm her down, "I kn-"

Ayu swept his hand away, and glared at him.

"I'm a monster who fell in the darkest depths of Academy City, and Shokuhou Misaki is the reason why. No matter what you say, I will end her disgustingly unfair life. You came here to save her, so be the hero that she wants you to be and defeat me!"

"I didn't come here to save Misaki."

"What are you talking about?! You clearly came here to save her!"

"No, I came here to save you."

Her glare softened into confusion. "Huh...?"

Ayu did not understand what he meant by that. She was the monster that must be defeated by the hero to save the princess in distress. Why was he saving the monster?

"I came here to save you from sinking further into the darkness as an unforgivable monster. I'm sorry that I didn't make it the last time, but at least I made it this time."

After so long, he finally came for her.

A hero finally came for Mitsuari Ayu.

Her anger and despair dissipated into tears streaming down her face.

Ayu wrapped her arms around Touma.

"It's okay..."

She smiled like a small child who was granted a miracle out of a hopeless situation.

"It's okay... At least you're here now."

Touma stroked her soft, fluffy chocolate colored hair, "Happy Birthday, Ayu."

"But it's not my birthday today."

After a short pause, he chuckled softly, "Sorry, I just wanted to lighten the mood."

Ayu chuckled along, "That was a lousy attempt in my opinion."

Memories are so precious, but yet they can be so fragile, and so painful.

Having an ability that involved manipulating human's mind taught her at least this much.

But it didn't always have to be painful.

Thank you.

Her memories with Touma was proof of that.

I'm glad to have met you.

Goodbye.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

You can thank Hiss13's one-shot about Mitsuari Ayu for being the motivation to come out with this.

It was kind of challenging, given the limited information from NT 11 about Ayu, to think about how exactly did the Parameter List drive Ayu to suicide. I won't comment much about the characterization I gave to Ayu, but if you have any questions and opinions, you can always leave a review or PM me.

As for the previous chapter, thanks so much for reviewing even though it's just a one shot, and glad that you liked the fic :)

Finally, if you're wondering why I ended this one-shot with the word 'Goodbye', the final epilogue from NT 11 should give you enough clues to why.

As usual, slight AU to make things a little more interesting instead of a copy paste from the LNs. By the way, Touma was just pretending to remember everything like in OT1 with Index, actually he doesn't remember a thing about Ayu and Misaki but its just that this one-shot was in third person limited to Ayu's POV, so there's no Touma's POV to show that.

Hope you liked this one-shot as well.


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